It wasn’t the biggest check Lisa Andersen earned as a competitive surfer – but it was one of the most meaningful.

She was the surf contest director in 2003 at the Roxy Pro France contest. One of her jobs was to oversee an “expression session,” an exhibition outside of the main event.

The men’s prize: $1,500. The women’s? $500.

“I think we need to up the ante a bit,” she said to event organizers. They raised the women’s prize money to match the men’s.

Then she entered the contest, and won, earning just as much as the top male surfer took home.

Though a discrepancy in prize money between male and female pro surfers still exists today, it was a small victory for Andersen as she looks back at a career in a surf culture and industry historically dominated by men.

“We’re in the same conditions, the same wave,” Andersen said.

A gala on Friday, June 22, at the Ranch in Laguna Beach will honor four female surfers who have paved the way for women on waves. The event highlights influencers both past and present to celebrate women for their contributions to the sport.

Australian surfer Stephanie Gilmore places her hands in cement as she gets inducted into the Surfers’ Hall Of Fame ceremony on Friday. Dave Stanfield, back left, Aaron Pai, center, and Rockin’ Fig, right, look on.
///ADDITIONAL INFO: surfershalloffame.080710 080610 Photo By Ana Venegas, The Orange County Register
Stephanie Gilmore, Ian Cairns and Randy Lewis were inducted Friday into the Surfers’ Hall of Fame in Huntington Beach. The event also honored Surfers Of The Year Brett Simpson, Courtney Conlogue, and Joe Aaron, as well as Rising Star Tevor Thornton of San Clemente.

Stephanie Gilmore of Australia surfs during the semi finals of the Swatch Women’s Pro at Lower Trestles at San Onofre State Beach in San Clemente on Wednesday.
(Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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Lisa Andersen reacts after hearing she won the US Open of Surfing in 1997. File photo

Stephanie Gilmore of Australia surfs during the finals of the Swatch Women’s Pro at Lower Trestles at San Onofre State Beach in San Clemente on Wednesday. Tyler Wright of Australia went on to win the contest. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Former four-time world champion Lisa Andersen appeared with 10-time champion Kelly Slater in an expression session Friday at Trestles.///ADDITIONAL INFO: 01.spn.0625.surfing.fs 06/24/2011 Fred Swegles, The Orange County Register

Joyce Hoffman, classic soul arch. (Photo courtesy: SHACC)

An exhibit showcasing four surf icons is on display at the Surfing Heritage and Culture Center in San Clemente, which coincides with a gala honoring the women on June 22. Here, four-time world champion Lisa Andersen is on display. (Photo by Laylan Connelly, Orange County Register/SCNG)

An exhibit showcasing four surf icons is on display at the Surfing Heritage and Culture Center in San Clemente, which coincides with a gala honoring the women on June 22. This section of the exhibit highlights Stephanie Gilmore. (Photo by Laylan Connelly, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Hawaiian Rell Sunn is among the surfers to be honored by the Surfing Heritage and Culture Center at a gala focusing on women making waves. (Photo by Laylan Connelly, Orange County Register/SCNG)

In addition to Andersen, iconic surfers Rell Sun and Joyce Hoffman will be honored, along with six-time world champion Stephanie Gilmore.

Glenn Brumage, executive director at the Surfing Heritage and Culture Center in San Clemente, said that during this year’s annual gala, they wanted to specially recognize women .

The official name of the event is “SHACC Ohana GALA honoring Women Making Waves.” It coincides with a “Women Making Waves” summer exhibit launched at SHACC on Saturday, June 2.

“We really felt like women had not been recognized enough. This was the right time and right place, and the right thing to do right now,” Brumage said.

Choosing the women to recognize was no easy task – and there were plenty of upset calls that more women weren’t put on the list.

“It means there’s a huge pent-up demand. We, the surfing community, really have not recognized women in surfing the way we should have,” Brumage said. “These are the strong women who throughout history paved the way and influenced young women to excel at whatever they wanted to do.

“It’s not that women haven’t excelled, its that recognition has been thin, at best.”

World titles and women’s surf wear

Gilmore, of Australia, is currently number two in the world and aiming for her seventh world title.

At the SHACC exhibit, photos of her tucking into a big barrel and a red jersey with her name adorn the walls. Her first world title came her rookie year on the World Surf League Championship Tour in 2007.

For more than a decade “Gilmore has been a driving force in the evolution of women’s surfing,” according to a write up at the exhibit.

Gilmore is currently the face of women’s surf wear brand Roxy – which Andersen helped create with mega surf brand Quiksilver decades ago. It was the first women’s surf brand and still today is a strong presence in retail stores catering to surfer girls.

Andersen, who lives in San Clemente, talked about how she wanted to surf without worrying about bikini malfunctions, and she made it cool for women to wear boardshorts through the apparel brand.

She teared up at the exhibit opening when talking about what it meant to be honored. A soon-to-be-released biographical film, titled “Trouble” after the nickname she earned in the water, reflects her life trying to fit in and be accepted in a line-up surrounded by mostly men.

‘Right there at the beginning’

Tony Geria, a volunteer at SHACC, said he was especially thrilled to see Hawaiian surfer Rell Sunn among the honorees.

“Rell Sunn is my hero. Not only was she an excellent surfer, she was an overall water woman,” Geria said.

Sunn was dubbed “the Queen of Makaha,” and was “a champion, barrier breaker, role model and matriarch,” her exhibit reads.

She entered her first contest when she was 16, and in 1966 attended the World Surfing Championship in San Diego. She began entering men’s events and in 1975, alongside others like Hoffman and Linda Benson, helped found the Women’s Professional Surfing Association.

Outside of competition, Sunn founded her first menehune (youth) surf contest, collecting prizes and trophies to give to kids with few opportunities. She also found surfboards for those who couldn’t afford them and guided young Hawaiians from troubled childhoods into careers surfing.

In 1983, Sunn was diagnosed with breast cancer. She battled cancer for another 15 years before passing away in 1998 at age 47.

“When she got the breast cancer…instead of hiding behind it, she came right out and was trying to help educate all these women,” Geria said. “I have so much respect for her.”

Longtime friend and surf icon Jericho Poppler, also an icon in helping to form women’s professional surfing, was Sunn’s best friend. She remembered fondly the days when she urged Sunn to travel outside of the islands, decades ago.

“We had the worst of it,” Poppler recalled. “No one knew where the sport was going. We were right there at the very beginning, we weren’t regarded as anything.”

Still work to be done

Poppler called Hoffman, her mentor, a surfer with “stamina and dignity” who was professional before professionalism started.

Hoffman, who grew up in Capo Beach in Dana Point, began surfing competitively in her early teens in the 60s. She earned multiple United States Surfing Championships.

But there’s still work to be done to get women the due recognition they deserve, Poppler said.

She was recently at the unveiling of Kelly Slater’s wave pool, where a group of the sport’s “founders” were recognized – not one woman among them, she notes.

“I think it’s a step in the right direction, because this is such a macho sport,” she said.

Tickets are still available for the SHACC Ohana Gala Honoring Women Making Waves event on June 22 at The Ranch in Laguna Beach. Cost is $300. More info: shacc.org

Laylan Connelly started as a journalist in 2002 after earning a degree in journalism from the University of Southern California. Through the years, she has covered several cities for The Orange County Register, starting as a beat reporter in Irvine before focusing on coastal cities such as Newport Beach, Dana Point and Laguna Beach. In 2007, she was selected for a prestigious Knight New Media fellowship focusing on digital media at UC Berkeley, where she learned skills to adapt to the ever-changing online landscape. Using a web-based approach, she turned her love for the ocean into a full-time gig as the paper’s beaches reporter. The unique beat allows her to delve into coastal culture by covering everything from the countless events dotting the 42 miles of coastline, to the business climate of the surf industry, to the fascinating wildlife that shows up on the shores. Most importantly, she takes pride in telling stories of the people who make the beaches so special, whether they are surfers using the ocean to heal, or the founders of major surf brands who helped spawn an entire culture, or people who tirelessly fight to keep the coast pristine and open for all to enjoy. She’s a world traveler who loves to explore the slopes during winter months or exotic surf spots around the globe. When she’s not working, or maybe while she's researching a story, you can find her longboarding at her favorite surf spots at San Onofre or Doheny.

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